An Urgent Deadline | Anne Marie Bridal Designs' Small Business Branding Session

“I have a bridal show on October 23rd,” the timber in Anne’s voice was filled with determination and urgency. Anne, the owner of the Anne Marie Bridal Designs, is a hard working small business owner. Like every small business owner, she does the work for every single aspect of her business. Immediately, I was drawn to her tenacity and willingness to jump on opportunities that arise with, well, sometimes inopportune timing. That’s the entrepreneurial spirit though - a voracious desire to take on big challenges and create our own success. It’s an inspiring spirit and Anne was ripe with it!

With the delays and shortages in the paper industry, I knew she would need a much time as possible to order her printed marketing materials. We were only a few weeks out from the show. I cracked my knuckles and got to work. Making a small business branding session a success is a team effort. Thankfully, Anne was proactive in getting her answers from our brand questionnaire back to me. Now, it was up to our team to plan a session that was unique to Anne’s brand and highlighted the parts of her brand story that would help her market to her potential clients. We had 72 hours - which were bound to fly by. There’s a wonderful photography friend who just so happens to have a studio nearby which compliments Anne’s brand. She was able to work with us on timing and our location was set. Not long after, Hannah Dezarn was able to confirm her availability to style Anne’s hair and makeup.

The next crucial step was for me to strategize and create a story board of photographs that would surely market to Anne’s target audience. Once all was planned and everyone was booked for her branding session, I set out to run around to local stores here in Winston Salem to pick up the items we needed for her images. From finding a table that served both the practical and aesthetic needs for Anne’s branding session to picking up extra pens in her brand colors and printing off samples and finding just the right details to bring a her photographs together - all in a short time - I found myself in just the sort of challenge I like!

In the end, we created beautiful photographs that were intentional to Anne’s marketing strategy and that she was excited to use!